THE BRAZEN CAREERIST- Learning opportunity: What you can learn from Sarah Palin

With just five weeks' preparation, Sarah Palin did a great job during her recent debate with Joe Biden. She memorized speeches that she trotted out in good moments. And she had such nerve!

Most of us would be too shy to flagrantly disregard the question, but she knew that was her job. She knew her job was to give set up answers and fit them in the best she could, and she did that.

She delivered her lines well, she played to the camera, and she was friendly, charming, and eloquent as long as you didn't mind that she talked about whatever she wanted.

The thing is that most of politics is not about giving the right answer. It's about giving any answer the right way.

The world is not bashing Kennedy for beating Nixon in the classic debate where Nixon wore all the wrong stuff and the wrong makeup and could have said anything and he still would have lost. No. No one is complaining about Kennedy's dependence on style in that debate.

And we didn't generally bash Reagan for being a great orator even if some thought he was losing his mind even before he got to office. He was still a great orator and could deliver his messages in a mesmerizing way.

So give Sarah some credit. She did a great job. She may not be ready to move into the White House, but that doesn't mean she didn't do a great job. She can only do her best. And she did.

And you have to respect someone who takes a huge risk. Look, if you think she's unqualified, don't vote for McCain, because he's the bozo who selected her.

But since she's there, learn something from her. Take advantage of a fun, capable woman who is rising up to the occasion. She's ignoring the taunt, and she has enough of a sense of self that she's plowing forward.

Really, it's hard to believe that she will be on the winning ticket. It's hard to believe that anyone could choose McCain after he has shown such poor judgment. But Palin will land on her feet. She'll get some TV commentator job, or some interior secretary job, and she'll learn the ropes, and she'll succeed.

If you are wondering why your own career is stalled, consider that it's because you don't have mentors like her. She is scrappy, and she knows how to manage her image. That's not small potatoes, and it's hard to find a woman who is as good at it as she is and public about how she's doing it.

So take advantage of this learning opportunity.

#

4 comments

Mark November 2nd, 2008 | 2:05pm

"She memorized speeches that she trotted out in good moments."
Don't you think Obama does the same thing? The highest praise Palin can get from anyone in the media, network anchors on down to semi-literate career advisers is that she delivers memorized lines well.
Stay in your lane, Penelope. Your bias is showing.

John Giuliano November 3rd, 2008 | 12:42am

Penelope Trunk is apparently a Jew. And since she's female, one could accurately call her a Jewess, if one wanted to do so.

Rosie November 3rd, 2008 | 4:18pm

Let me see if I've got this straight. You want me to view as a mentor a woman who has no conscience about lying in order to get what she wants, who counts on her sex appeal to reach her goals, who sees America in black and white (and doesn't like the black), who thrives on the divisive and negative, who is running for the second highest position in the country but who has obviously never bothered to read the constitution, who has never even read a newspaper that she can remember! Yeah, sure. That's who I want to be like. She doesn't have a clue about how to manage her image or she wouldn't be caught so often in scandals of idiocy and greed. Sarah Palin thinks only of herself and is ruthless to anyone who gets in her way. Those are not traits I look for in a mentor... or a vice president.

Sick Of The Local Rambos November 3rd, 2008 | 6:15pm

What we can learn from the Democrats.... how to covertly flip off your opponent with the middle finger....